Wool addicted in Tales from the Spinning Siren

It always amazes me when people say they are allergic to wool or hate wool that its scratchy.
There are SO many types of wool. You would be amazed. So many different animals give wool.
Angora wool is one of the absolute softest. But there is also camel down ( AMAZING! ) Yak, Goats ( cashmere and mohair) Pygora, And about 500 types of sheep! Alpaca, llama, I cant even name them all. When people say they dont like wool. I always ask what they have felt, what they have worn. Usually its some yucky commercial wool with a micron count of over 30 lol. The lower the micron the better!! Angora has 10-15 microns. Thats why its so soft!! Its so fine.
Then different types of wool have different properties. Some are scaled like human hair! You know that silky feeling of human hair? Angora and Alpaca have the same scales. Others have microscopic hooks. Thats what makes the wool lock together and felt. Scaled wool felts too! But then you can superwash treat wool ( only commercial plants can superwash, its not something you do at home) Anyway superwash makes it non felt able. Its a chemical process. But it also makes wools sometimes softer and more silky. Merino wool for instance when super washed is more slippery and soft.

My favorite wools are the softer ones. My angora with 10 micron width. My alpaca is 15-20 usually. I use anything rougher for felted wool balls for the dryer, dog beds ect. I dont like to spin it and i dont like to crochet it, much less wear it.
Im currently spinning tonight 23 micron merino. Its commercially prepared and dyed. Formed into a long rope of combed top. Its extremely easy to spin. I almost feel like its cheating sometimes lol. Im not a huge fan of 23 micron wool. Its just not as soft!

So i stsarted today with plying angora. I finished that skein. 305 yards of beautiful blue ( very pale grey) angora plied on a shiny whiteish grey thread. Its just a hint of sparkle but not SPARKLY. Then i spun a 4 oz top of superwash merino and tencel. Tencel is an added er. Its made from cellulose ( WOOD!) and is very shiny. Its also extremely soft and silky. It was 125 yards plied on itself. So was spun 250 ish yards, then plied back on itself for a finish of 125.

Next i spun the 23 micron firestar and merino. Firestar is another add in fiber. Its actually a 2-3 inch long shiny fiber. Think a glittery plastic like fiber, but the width of a hair. Its lovely. BUT i realied after 4 oz, that i do not like it. It kinda poked through my shirt, and my jeans and i feel itchy, across my skin and face. Of course i did hay the rabbits tonight and im allergic to hay. So it possibly could be that. BUt the firestar is all over my clothes too.

Just a couple photos nipped from my instagram :) I think im going to spin my other 4 oz combed top which is purple black and silvery blue. Then start preparing to spin my new alpaca. Its washed and dried and ready to card!! So many options.

I did finish the first ply of the silvery blue. Everyone said its the elsa color haha. I want to do somethin very special with it. Its going to be a bit difficult. I need to divide the yarn in half. Its all on one bobbin. Then each half will be plied on itself. BUT ill hold a third strand of thread. One strung with pearl beads. Its complicated lol. I have to string all the pearls on the thread. And then ply it as a three ply. Its going to be beautiful. I estimate there is 250-300 yards on the bobbin judging on how full it is. So it should be around 120 yards when im finished. Its too much for a hat. But will be beautiful!
The other option is to ply it on the blue and purple and black one ive got to spin. BUT its not sparkly and ill loose all the pretty elsa like frozen splendor of the roving haha. Unfortunately seeing it is of that fiber. Ill probably never wear it myself lol!

Anyway there is a tiny bit of insight in my wool life!

Sometime ill do photos of angora care :)